Health Insurance and Motorcycle Accidents in Winston-Salem
Health insurance is important because if a person is a motorcycle rider and he or she has been involved in an accident, he or she is likely to have sustained more serious injuries than someone in a car.
Having health insurance if a person is involved in a motorcycle accident would help alleviate the financial burden of medical expenses incurred for injuries in a motorcycle accident.
If you have been in an accident and are questioning how your medical expenses are going to be paid, contact a Winston-Salem motorcycle accident lawyer.
Settlement Damages with Insurance
If a person has health insurance and he or she has been involved in a motorcycle accident, health insurance has paid some of those bills. The amount the injured person can claim as past medical expenses is only the amount that the health insurance paid, or more technically speaking, the amount necessary to satisfy the bill.
Without Insurance
If a person does not have health insurance and is injured in a motorcycle accident their auto policy may have some medical payment coverage on it that might be a source of money to help pay for medical bills.
If there was somebody like an at-fault driver involved in the collision, that person’s liability coverage may ultimately be responsible for their medical bills but they would not start paying on them until the claim was resolved.
This will not be an immediate help in medical bills. Through the government, depending on the severity of the injuries, a person could always file an emergency application for Medicaid, which is state assistance to help pay for medical bills in traumatic situations.
Requiring a Reimbursement
Health insurance companies require people to reimburse them for paid medical expenses if the person receives a settlement if they have an established right of reimbursement. If someone had a health plan and was paying for their coverage then in North Carolina, generally speaking, that plan is not going to be entitled to reimbursement.
In North Carolina, a plan will only have an established right of reimbursement if it was established under a law called the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
If the health insurance is an ERISA plan or if the health insurance is provided through the state employee health plan in North Carolina, Medicare, Medicaid, or TRICARE, it is entitled to be paid back.
ERISA plans typically ask for the full amount that they paid out due to the negligence of a third party.
Under an ERISA plan, the insured person is not paying a premium for their health plan.
Working With Insurance
Whether a motorcycle accident negatively impacts the person’s insurance rates more than they would after a car accident would be decided for each company.  If they see that the person is now requiring a whole a lot more treatment, they may adjust his or her rates.
The first things the person should do regarding their health insurance following a motorcycle accident is to make sure that their medical providers have their health insurance information and request that the providers file the bills with their health insurance is important.
The Benefit of an Attorney
An attorney can track with the health insurer what bills are related or not related to making sure that if they do have a right of reimbursement, they do not get overpaid and that we do not pay them too much. Then at the end of the case, frequently, a lawyer will try to attempt to negotiate a lower balance to be paid back to the health insurer.
